Sean McDermott did not reveal who the Buffalo Bills' starting quarterback will be Thursday night in the preseason finale at Chicago, let alone on opening day of the regular season in Baltimore.

Prior to practice Monday afternoon at One Bills Drive, McDermott said he and his staff will be making the decision on what the quarterback rotation will be at Soldier Field when the Bills play their final preseason game, and it did not seem as if the team is going to sign a free agent to take the bulk of the snaps in order to protect Nathan Peterman, Josh Allen and A.J. McCarron.

“No,” McDermott said when asked if he had settled on a starter. “No further quarterback developments from (Sunday) night at this point. Still coming off the game, little unique practicing the day after and not having a day off. Still going through that, want to get through this practice first and make sure we have our ducks in a row before moving forward.”

To this point, Peterman has played the best of the three quarterbacks vying to be the Bills’ starter, ahead of both Allen and McCarron. Does that mean Peterman will be excused from action in Chicago? Not necessarily, though McDermott acknowledged that, “At the end of the day we have to make sure we’re healthy going into the season, so there’s a delicate balance there.”

Meaning, if one of the quarterbacks does not play in Chicago, then you have the answer as to who the starter will be in Baltimore on Sept. 9.

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Bills rookie quarterback Josh Allen is pressured by Bengals Carlos Dunlap and hits his head on the turf. He was removed from the game a play later and checked for a concussion. JAMIE GERMANO/ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRON

Allen played nearly the entire first half in the 26-13 loss to Cincinnati before suffering a head injury that knocked him out of the game, though he was later cleared to return had McDermott opted to put him back in. Peterman played the rest of the way and made yet another statement that he should be QB1 against the Ravens, though his success (16 of 21 for 200 yards and two touchdown drives) did come against the Bengals’ second- and third-string defense.

“Well, when you look across all three games to this point, including practice, but let’s just take the games, he has shown that consistency, which is good to see,” McDermott said of the 2017 fifth-round draft pick. “Again, another young player at the start of his sophomore season if you will, that has shown some poise and understanding of how the NFL works in terms of defensive schemes. I’ve watched him grow and develop, which is good to see.”

Allen struggled in his first start, though most of the problems stemmed from an awful performance by the Bills’ offensive line against a stout Cincinnati defensive front. Allen completed 6 of 12 passes for 34 yards and was sacked five times for 39 yards in losses.

“It’s never one guy, there’s a lot of hands in that cookie jar,” McDermott said in trying to explain the dysfunction of the first-string offense, meaning some of it was Allen not getting rid of the ball in a timely fashion, protection breakdowns, receivers dropping passes, and penalties that put the Bills in some tough down and distance situations.

“Overall,” McDermott continued, “I know the numbers didn’t really show a great performance necessarily, but there’ a lot of things that went into that. I did like his poise in the pocket, to an extent, I thought he got us in and out of the huddle. I thought he managed the highs and lows of the game. That’s all part of playing that quarterback position and leading us as a football team.”

McDermott indicated that McCarron — who suffered a shoulder injury Aug. 18 in Cleveland and has been limited in practice ever since — is on the mend and has made “dramatic” improvement in his throwing. He was held out of Sunday’s game, but McDermott said, “He looks good to go.”